Winter Checklist: 7 Things To Do To Prepare Your Home For Winters
Everyone longs for winters as it brings calmness, serenity, and peace with it. While we wait for the winters to come and enjoy our hot cup of coffee, it is important to prepare for the season too. Before this season arrives it is necessary to do your winter checklist to make sure you’re winter-ready. The checklist includes getting warm clothes, indoor and outdoor essentials, checking up on your fireplace and chimneys, investing in boiler insurance , if you haven’t already, and much more. In this article, we will discuss the winter checklist that everybody needs to be prepared for the season.
1. Investing In Boiler Cover
A boiler is a home appliance that is necessary for central heating and water heating in freezing weather conditions. To make sure you get an annual boiler service, access to gas engineers, and repair of the central heating system, you need to invest in boiler cover. The boiler is an expensive home appliance that needs to be serviced to get efficient results. Investing in a boiler cover can save you a lot of trouble and help you get through the winters without any inconvenience.
2. Clear Fireplaces And Chimneys
Obstructed fireplaces and chimneys can lead to serious fire hazards. Make sure no bird nests, leaves, and debris can obstruct the passage. Obstruction can lead to carbon monoxide accumulation that can have injurious health effects. Moreover, check up on carbon monoxide detectors and replace them if required.
3. Seal Doors And Windows
Before winters arrive, thoroughly seal your doors and windows to avoid infiltration of cold air. Otherwise, you’ll be paying more bills for the heating system. Inspect window tracks, check for air leaks and inspect the locking mechanism to make sure they work properly. If not, replace them or tape plastic over windows to seal them. For doors, check any failed weatherstripping and fix it right away to abstain from infiltration of cold air in winters.
4. Winterize The Sprinkler System
Most homes have a garden and a sprinkler system to water the flowers and plants. But you should winterize your sprinkler system before winter to avoid any inconvenience. You can simply shut off the water, drain the pipes, free pipes of water droplets, and allow air to pass into the system. Investing in aluminium guttering would be a good idea as well, as the aluminum is durable, eco friendly and weather resistant.” This helps to prevent the cracking of plastic water lines in winters. Moreover, insulate your water pipes to prevent them from bursting. You can insulate them with foam pipe insulation covers.
5. Warm Clothes
Before the winters arrive you need to update your wardrobe with some cozy clothes. Get warm sweaters, long coats, jackets, pants, gloves, caps, and boots to get you through the season without any trouble. Getting your wardrobe winter-ready before winters is economical as well as prices are not hiked up before the season arrives. In addition, due to less demand, you get what you need without any delays.
6. Inspect The Roof
One of the important tasks to prepare yourself for winters is inspecting the roof thoroughly. Check the roof for damaged or missing shingles that can result in leaks from melting snow. In addition, check to flash around chimneys and other roof projections which often becomes a source of the leak. Get them repaired if needed. Moreover, if your home is prone to icicles and ice dams, you can prevent them by raking the snow off your roof and installing heat cables.
7. Protect Air Conditioner
The arrival of winter means you won’t be using your air conditioner until spring. But that doesn’t mean you let your air conditioner get damaged by icicles and debris. Make sure you cover it with a breathable material such as a sheet of plywood held down by a few bricks to keep it in place. In this way, your air conditioner will be ready to use by spring without any damage. In addition, you can protect your air conditioner from freezing by switching off the air conditioning circuit. This prevents the unit from turning on during an unusually warm winter day and keeps water out of the unit. In this way, the water doesn’t enter the system, and the chances of freezing the air conditioner get reduced.